


Just Before Dawn

by holdouttrout



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-30
Updated: 2009-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:23:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holdouttrout/pseuds/holdouttrout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during <i>Unending</i>. Sam can't move forward, but Teal'c is there holding on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Before Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/ultranos_fic/profile)[**ultranos_fic**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/ultranos_fic/) gave me the prompt "2 AM" from the porn battle.

  
None of them can leave their old life behind, though they all end up trying. Sam's turn comes right in the middle of their time on board the ship, and she begins it by moving to the other side of the ship from the Ori beam, away from the constant reminder of time expanded, her life encapsulating less than a breath of everyone she knows.

She destroys the cello next, in a good old-fashioned disintegration, and refuses to speak to any of them for three weeks.

They've already been through this with Cam and Landry, so they let her have her solitude. Twenty years with the same five people gets old, and sometimes you just want them to shut up.

It's Teal'c who finds her clutching a support in the bowels of the ship, crying as she gazes into the emptiness of space. He puts a single hand on her shoulder, and doesn't hesitate when she wraps her arms around him. He doesn't offer consolation or encouragement, just holds her. When she's finished crying, he takes her back to her room and tucks her in, kisses her temple to an indrawn, shaky breath, and leaves.

She resumes her work the next morning, works straight through the day and into the night, and only looks up when Teal'c stops in the doorway.

"Colonel Carter--" he doesn't finish the sentence, and it's almost enough to worry Sam. Teal'c never begins a sentence he doesn't intend to finish. "I am finding it difficult to sleep," he says finally. It's not what he was going to say, and they both know it.

Sam swallows. "Would you--I seem to be missing a cello," she says, with a self-deprecating laugh.

Teal'c's mouth quirks into a quarter-smile and Sam grins back. She stands and stretches, feeling the familiar ache of her body after sitting still for so long. She walks to the console and pulls up her cello. It's saved in the database, and Sam only has to press a button to bring it back. They watch light coalesce around an empty space. It solidifies into the cello, the same deep cherry color as the one before, identical in every aspect except history.

"You want to hear something?" Sam asks. She sits down and arranges the instrument along her body, runs her left hand along the neck. "It feels different," she complains lightly, taking the bow in her other hand and hefting it experimentally.

"Jaffa warriors often switched staff weapons in training," Teal'c says. "In battle, it is always possible to lose your grip on your own. A Jaffa must not mourn the loss."

Sam smiles and draws out a single, low note. Teal'c waits while she plays through the strings, makes sure everything is in tune. She pauses and then begins a slow, sad song, modulating it in the middle into a major key and sliding up the scale into as lively a tune as the cello allows.

Teal'c says, "I never heard you mention wanting to play."

Sam slows into a repetitive, easier pattern so she can answer. "I never had time, before." She plays through the piece again. "It helps me think."

"Or not think."

They share a look, both of them understanding exactly what they mean. Sam loses her place and fumbles, but she doesn't look down to recover.

Teal'c nearly smiles again, but it's a smile Sam hasn't seen before. She feels warm and shivers.

"It is late, Colonel Carter."

"Yes," Sam replies. Teal'c takes the cello and rests it in the stand, then helps Sam to her feet. They walk along the empty, silent corridors, close enough to touch. Sam feels a little unsettled, and when they reach the fork to their rooms, they stop.

It's a long minute before Teal'c says, "Goodnight, Colonel Carter."

"Teal'c--" Sam says, reaching out, and Teal'c pulls her in. When he kisses her, Sam feels a rush of relief, as if she'd been thinking about this, had been worried about it for a long time, though she thinks it ought to have been a surprise.

It feels so, so easy. Sam remembers to breathe and smells Teal'c, the way he used to smell after a few days of downtime, just a little metallic. She thinks they must all smell a little like that now that they've spent so much time on the ship, wonders if he notices.

Teal'c kisses her jaw and Sam grabs at his shoulders. She almost says something, but thinks better of it, pulls him down for another kiss, deeper and more urgent.

She's a little breathless when Teal'c pulls back, barely hears him when he says, "I would like to accompany you to your room, Colonel Carter."

Later, she'll laugh at his formality. Now, she simply says, "Yes."

Sam's body is softer in places, rounder. She knows she's quieter, too, from all the years spent in the presence of people who know her too well. She can see a faint hint of grey in Teal'c's hair, just at his temples, though she thinks he's the same, otherwise.

He removes her clothing slowly, kissing each place he uncovers: the soft curve of her belly, the flare of her hips, her breasts. She returns the favor, spends a little longer on him, enjoying the sight of him as he reacts to her touch, not quite as still as he normally appears. His eyes close when she strokes his cock, and she grins, pulling up and twisting around the head.

Teal'c pulls Sam toward him to kiss her again, slips his fingers between her legs as she straddles him and rubs through her folds. She's not quite wet enough, so he switches positions and spreads her out on the bed, parts her thighs and uses his tongue.

She nearly arches off the bed. It's been a while, and she knows he knows--there aren't any secrets between them, not on a ship this size. He holds her steady, slips a finger inside, and she almost giggles but sighs instead when he finds her clit. He goes slow, pays attention to how Sam reacts, and she lets him know what she wants with words and gentle nudges.

He slips another finger inside her and twists, and she comes, just like that, as if it's always that easy. She doesn't have time to catch her breath before Teal'c kisses her, replaces his fingers with his cock, and then he thrusts into her as her hips rise to meet his, and it's slow and deep and so _good_. He anchors her as he thrusts, and they shift until the angle is just right.Teal'c closes his eyes and places his mouth on Sam's collarbone, and her second orgasm takes her by surprise, driving Teal'c over the edge. Their rhythm falters as he rides it out, and Sam feels completely present for the first time in years beneath him as she catches her breath.

Teal'c lowers himself to the bed beside Sam, who turns toward him, feeling a slight twinge in muscles she hasn't used in a while. Teal'c raises his head to Sam's, touches their foreheads together. He has a little more than a quarter-smile, right now. "Was I satisfactory, Colonel Carter?"

Sam does laugh, then, at least until their mouths meet and her laughter is swallowed by another kiss.


End file.
